soaking water from chilies and blend to a
slightly grainy sauce, adding more water as needed.

Scrape harissa into a glass, plastic, or
stainless-steel bowl (it can react with other metals

and certain pottery glazes).

2. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan
over high heat. Stir in bulgur, cover, and remove from heat. Let it rest for 1
hour, until grains have soaked up all the water.

3. Fluff bulgur with a fork and scrape it
into a food processor. Add all remaining ingredients

except for oil, and pulse until the
mixture forms a thick paste, scraping down the sides

of the bowl once or twice. Remove the
chopping blade; cover the bowl and refrigerate

for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours
to allow ground bulgur to hydrate until smooth.

4. Use dampened hands to form the mixture
into 6 smooth, flat, round patties. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Pour
in oil and add patties. Cook until browned

and crisp, about 4 minutes.

Flip patties and continue cooking until browned and crisp on the other side, about 4 more minutes. (If your skillet is too small to hold all 6 patties at once, work in batches, using half the oil for each batch.) To serve, smear each burger with 1 heaping tablespoon of harissa, or drizzle the sauce over all of the burgers and enjoy in pitas or over a chopped salad.